Ngukurr

Ngukurr, formerly Roper River Mission (1908-1968), is a remote Aboriginal community on the banks of the Roper River in southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

Ngukurr, formerly Roper River Mission (1908-1968), is a remote Aboriginal community on the banks of the Roper River in southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

A number of different clans and language groups are represented in the town, with Kriol being the main language spoken. Collectively, the Aboriginal people in the Roper River area refer to themselves as Yugul Mangi, and the township is run by the Yugul Mangi Development Aboriginal Corporation (YMD), which represents about 200 people in seven clans.

Founded as the Roper River Mission in 1908, the settlement was taken over by the Northern Territory Government's Welfare Department in 1968, and handed over to the community in 1988, at which time it was renamed Ngukurr.

The town was originally settled by the Church Missionary Society in 1908, known then as the Roper River Mission.As well as bringing "Christianity and civilisation" to the local Aboriginal people, it was intended to provide a dwelling place for them, to be safe from mass killings by white settlers. The Eastern and African Cold Storage Company had driven the people off their lands, planning to set up cattle stations and export the meat around the world. The missionaries protected them from death by starvation or massacre, but banned their languages and traditional ceremonies.Children had to live in dormitories, while their parents and relatives lived elsewhere. A separate compound for leprosy sufferers was created in 1928. The mission moved to the present site in 1940, after a major flood destroyed the mission station.After the Bombing of Darwin during World War II in 1942, the mission children were relocated to New South Wales, and then South Australia and Alice Springs.The Welfare Branch of the Northern Territory Government took over management of the town in 1968.In 1988, control of the community was handed to the Yugul Mangi Community Government Council, and the township was renamed Ngukurr. In 2008, Yugul Mangi Development Aboriginal Corporation (YMD) was established.